New guidelines approved by the country’s Catholic bishops for priests with children could be adopted by the Vatican, it has emerged.

A University College Cork campaign group for refugees is calling on all Catholic bishops to “confirm publicly” that they have the resources to provide shelter for refugee families.

Irish bishops have this morning released a statement calling on the public to vote in the forthcoming general election.

The Bishop of Elphin says he finds it difficult to see how any Catholic could “in good conscience” vote for an election candidate or party whose policy is to legalise abortion.

Pope Francis has celebrated a final mass to close out a historic meeting of bishops that, by a single vote, approved an important new direction in welcoming divorced and civilly remarried Catholics into the church.

Pope Francis has approved an unprecedented Vatican department to judge bishops accused of covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of minors, in an attempt to meet a key demand by victims’ groups.

Irish Catholic bishops have come out against confidentiality agreements in cases where a priest has fathered a child, according to correspondence between it and newly formed organisation Coping International.